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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPMay 26, 2017Brendan McKayRoger WilliamsLouisville, Kentucky Florida State - 6, Louisville - 2 Q. I noticed when you hit the home run, you kind of showed a little emotion toward your team. Is that to try to get a little spark? BRENDAN McKAY: Absolutely. At the time we're competing on the mound, fighting through tough innings, making quick innings where we can get back in the dugout with a lot of momentum, so I really just wanted to try and get a spark there, you know. It's a big swing right there, you get within two runs where you get a guy on and you get something started from there, a guy hits a home run with a guy on, we're right back in the game. So just trying to get in there and lift some people up that are down and just spark a little emotion. Q. That's 21 strikeouts and nine hits that Holton has allowed in two starts on you. What makes him so tough? BRENDAN McKAY: Just his command for all three pitches. He doesn't throw a lot of fastballs. So when you get them, they are well located, and it's tough to hit a well-located fastball. Even the best hitters in the big leagues, they can't; they struggle with it. He gets ahead with a fastball that's well-located he start throwing his great off-speed that he's got, and a changeup that's got good velocity change to it, good tail to it. It's just a tough at-bat. You've got to find something that you can handle and just put a good swing on it. Q. With what you still have left to play for, how concerning is this last week? BRENDAN McKAY: I mean, everybody hits a bump in the road honestly. I think it's just something that it happens. It's a long season. It's a grind. You know, it's a little more different now that you're in the later half of the season when you're out of school and you've only got baseball to think about. It's tough to not think about other things with all that free time you've got. We practice one o'clock, two o'clock in the afternoon, so you're free from four or five o'clock in the afternoon. So whenever you go to bed, so there's a lot of things going through your mind, thinking about different situations, what happens. I think you just need to clear your mind and play free and like a kid attitude. Q. Is it more what they were doing or is it something that needs to be fixed? BRENDAN McKAY: Really they are just a great team. They work counts. They don't swing out of the zone too much, and they have got a lot of guys that can do damage throughout their lineup. It may not look like it but any guy in their lineup can put a ball in the gap and score a couple runs or spark a big rally. Q. So at least one catch out there in center field might be on SportsCenter tonight. Did that deflate you guys? Did you think you had a chance at it? BRENDAN McKAY: Yeah, you obviously think -- we're all rooting for Pat. The guy, this is his first career start and what better moment for him to have a big hit like that. The ball drops where -- it's 4-3 and the game's different. We've got a guy on second or third maybe if the ball rolls around. It kind of brings your emotion back down when you think you've got a one-run ballgame and another chance to score a run when it's taken away like that. Q. With some downtime now, what do you do to try not to think about too much and get ready for the NCAAs? BRENDAN McKAY: Really, me personally, just hang out with guys, watch TV. Get out of the house. Go see a movie. Just anything you can do to have fun and pretty much be a kid. Q. Do you worry at all about -- BRENDAN McKAY: There could be a few guys but I think as a team, we'll address it this week. You've got two weeks till that big day, and I think everybody just needs to cut the -- cut whatever ties you have to that day and focus on what we got right now. Q. At the top of the fourth, the meeting -- more demonstrative than we are used to seeing. What was that based on? BRENDAN McKAY: He was just upset with the overall attitude of the infield I think. You know, not a lot of people being vocal. Telling the outfielders where we needed the ball thrown in one of the situations. It's just him trying to get on us and bring us to that -- to where he knows we can play at. Just all good from there. Q. That game -- inaudible. BRENDAN McKAY: Yes. Q. What impressed you most about Holton? ROGER WILLIAMS: Just ultra-pitchability guy. Three pitches for strikes. Can change patterns on what he's trying to do. Both sides of the plate with the fastball. He even can throw his off-speed in the zone and out of the zone when he wants to do that. And really competes. Like I said, I thought early in the game, we were starting to grind out some pretty good at-bats and then he seemed to get better later in the game. Made it a lot tougher for us. We'll have to face that guy again next year, so we've got to figure out a little better plan of attack. Q. Do you remember your reaction when Stowers made the catch in center field? ROGER WILLIAMS: I didn't quite see it. I was blocked out by some of the players. Again, those are the type of plays that in the post-season that can elevate a team, and you've got to make plays like that in the post-season, especially. It was a great play by that guy. Q. Obviously a very good opponent, they were ranked No. 2 in the preseason. But was it a lot of what they had to do or is it disconcerting to the coaching staff the way you guys have played the last week? ROGER WILLIAMS: Well, we have to play better. You know, you play so well throughout the regular season, so consistent throughout the regular season, and that's the thing about baseball. You just never know when something like this may happen. Then you go into the last weekend, and you don't play great. We've got to find different ways to win. We've just got to be better. Guys have to play freed up and enjoy their time playing. I know they will. And guys are looking forward to the post-season and the regional. We've got to get re-centered and just go out and have fun playing baseball. Q. Does this team feel a little more burdened than some in the past -- with the draft, with expectations? ROGER WILLIAMS: I don't sense that with this group. The draft is something that comes with our program. It's part of what we live with every year. Obviously we're proud of cultivating that type of culture. We want to help our kids have opportunities like that. But at the same time, you know, those that are able to do that, that will be there at some point. You only get this once, and that's what we're trying to impress upon our guys is that you don't get a redo five years down the road. You've got to try to be where your feet are and enjoy the moment. Q. How difficult is it to overcome those injuries and do you sense that played a little bit in this game? ROGER WILLIAMS: Again, our guys were really behind Pat today. He's a well-liked kid and I thought Pat did a great job for me defensively. I thought working the game he did a very good job. He's with our kids all the time throwing bullpens. He's helping our pitchers get better. For me as a coach, a guy like that, the guys that work in the pen, you can't put a price on that. That's a big part of our pitcher development obviously. You know, it is what it is. Colby and Colin, even Lincoln comes back today but that's his first action since Clemson. We had to rest him a little bit but we were able to get him in the game. You deal with those things. Everybody has to deal with issues like that. Certainly I thought the guys that we plugged in have done fine. Q. Any word on Colin? ROGER WILLIAMS: I don't know. I'm not sure exactly what the word on Colin is. Sorry. Q. Will you take a bit of a different approach maybe for preparation going into the regional, or will you just keep it as is? ROGER WILLIAMS: Well, I think there has to be sort of an unwritten sense of urgency, I guess. You certainly don't want -- we don't want our players to feel pressure. Again, I just mentioned a minute ago, you want them to play loose, play free. I think that's how you play your best. But you know, this program's always had a way of being ready to play when a regional started. So we have to have some sort of sense of urgency, but not make too much of it. We have to get back to playing a good brand of baseball, whatever that means, 27 outs or more, every pitch, every at-bat, every play. Q. You guys have dominated the regular season the past three years, but you guys have been struggling in the post-season. Is it a mentality within your team? ROGER WILLIAMS: I can't really say it's a mentality thing. Is there some sort of letdown? Each kid would have to ask themselves that individually. I do know our coaching staff, we want to play well in the tournament. We want to play well in the ACC Tournament. That's important to us. We haven't won a conference tournament, I think maybe since 2009 back in the Big East days. So we just haven't gotten it done yet but we'll keep grinding to find a way to play better in the conference tournament. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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